Lowery, who pitched Pelham to the 6A state championship last year, pitched 3 1/3 innings of hitless, scoreless relief. His performance stabilized a game filled with drama, one where UAB rallied from down three, saw pitching coach Josh Hopper get ejected and broke a 5-all tie in the eighth on Chase Davis' RBI sacrifice fly.

UAB lost 3-2 on Friday to Southern Miss. In that game, USM scored two in the top of the ninth for the win. The teams go for the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Young Memorial Field. UAB's win snapped a 6-game winning streak for Southern Miss in the series.

"That one hurt," Shoop said. "That one really stung. We felt like we let a win get away.

"One of the tests of a team is how do you respond to that. On top of a really painful loss last night, we got down 3-0 today. That's a heck of a win for our club, I'm really proud of them."

Umpire John Ausmus ejects UAB Assistant Coach Josh Hopper (not shown) from the dugout as UAB Coach Brian Shoop argues at Young Field in Birmingham, Ala., Saturday, April 12, 2014. Ausmus ruled that UAB catcher Mitch Williams tagged out one of two runners at the plate on a close play in the third inning. UAB coaches argued that both runners were out. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)

UAB improved to 24-11, eclipsing last year's win total, and 10-4 in conference play. USM dropped to 20-16, 9-5. UAB moved back in first place in Conference USA (tied with UTSA) with a .714 winning percentage, just ahead of Rice (.706).

Southern Miss led 3-0 in the third, but that's when the drama started. With the bases loaded, Dylan Burdeaux doubled to deep center field. Davis, who ran in on it, recovered and got the throw in to the infield. One run scored easily, but Matt Durst was only a few steps ahead of Bradley Roney when he tried to score.

The throw came to catcher Mitch Williams, who attempted to tag both runners. Home plate umpire John Ausmus ruled Durst safe, but Roney out for out two.

UAB argued the play. Hopper was eventually ejected from the game for continuing to argue.

UAB's Griffin Gum makes a diving catch of a ball hit by Southern Miss's Breck Kline at Young Field in Birmingham, Ala., Saturday, April 12, 2014. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)

But UAB appeared rejuvenated from the events and scored four in the third, two on a single by Ryan Prinzing, off USM starter Conor Fisk.

"Certainly it seemed like they responded to their pitching coach getting thrown out," USM head coach Scott Berry said. "It started with the walk and it gave some momentum and they took advantage. The inning fell apart for us. We just didn't really do enough to hold that damage down. Even though we came back and tied the game 5-5, UAB did some things better than us down the line."

UAB loaded the bases with one out in the eighth. Davis' sac fly to center scored Mitch Williams, who led off the inning with a single off USM pitcher Jake Winston (3-2).

Lowery (4-1) allowed one inherited runner to score on a wild pitch in the sixth. That run was charged to Alex Luna, who had his first rough outing of the season but was able to battle until the sixth inning. Luna had walked just three in 46 1/3 innings prior to the game, but walked five and hit two batters on Saturday.

"That's all he had to do for us was battle," Shoop said of Luna. "He gave us everything he could and got us to Lowery. Thomas was lights out. They really didn't generate anything with Thomas.

"I told Thomas when he went in that, 'This is your game, we're going to stay with you.' He made that stand up."

Williams said he called pitches after Hopper's ejection. He went over scouting reports with Lowery in between innings. On that play in the third, he said, "I thought I got both of them. From the view of the umpire, I don't think he could see it, but I clearly got the second guy and that was good enough for us."

Lowery was dominant in his performance, picking up Luna after his struggles and holding Southern Miss in check after the bullpen faltered in the ninth inning on Friday.

"We flushed it last night," Lowery said. "It was tough loss and we wish we could have got it, but we definitely needed it today. We called it our get-back day because we needed to get back in the series."